On the road again pic.twitter.com/7Xqj7ecdvU

— Mandy Patinkin (@PatinkinMandy) September 5, 2021

There is a lot of balagan surrounding the return fo the Breslav pilgrims from Uman. I can't really make heads or tails of it - the PCR Covid testing system in Uman collapsed under the strain of thousands of people trying to get tested quickly, in the airport in Israel it collapsed as well under the strain of thousands returning being forced to stand in long lines, supposedly unreliable results, etc.

without any comment on the festival of Uman and the idea of traveling there, the following signs and behavior behind it are distasteful to me... these signs are in light of something the news reported shortly before Rosh Hashana in Uman about some people making trouble because some stalls in the market were managed by women or they employed women in the stalls. Many of the Breslav men who travel to Uman want to be what they consider pure and not have to see any women at all while in Uman. the following signs were hanging in Uman. Signs directly against women - not specifically immodesty or whatever - just women in general. One is a sign calling on people to not buy in stalls that employ women and do not have the "hechsher". The second is a picture of the hechsher certifying that a store does not employ women (and explicitly does not endorse the kashrut of said store)

“We have ZERO COVID cases in the heimishe community of Ripponlea. Over 90% of the 40+ age group are double vaxxed. We asked for a legal way to daven outdoors on Rosh Hashanah, citing “bottle shops and building sites’ that are open for 50-100 people, some even spent thousands in the courts to try to push it through – and the government gave us zero. This prompted some people to go early to a shul (5:30am) and locked themselves in – no noise at all. Unfortunately, some local non-Jewish neighbors were up at 5:00AM and filmed some people going in Tuesday morning and sent the footage to the media. Police surrounded the block like there was a terrorist attack – and they did not leave until Wednesday night. This is appalling and disgusting.”